NYSTCE Practice Test PDF with Sample EAS Exam Questions

For the links to the NYSTCE practice test PDF printouts, please scroll to the bottom of the page.

There are links from the official website, as well as from other New York State educational institutions.

What is the NYSTCE EAS Exam

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All teaching candidates in the state of New York will need to take the EAS (Educating All Students) Test, which assesses whether educators have the skills required to teach classes with diverse ethnic compositions.

The NYSTCE EAS exam has three different teaching exhibits. You will need to analyse the three exhibits and answer questions about them. Have a look at the example below.

Exhibit 1 – Description of the Class

Mr. Ribaldi teaches fourth and fifth-grade social studies classes, which consist of 63% white students, 27% African American students, and 10% students with Asian ethnicities. There have been some tensions in the classes because of this ethnic diversity. In addition, the classes have various learning styles and differing educational needs, and there is an increasing profile of students from lower-income backgrounds.

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Accordingly, the principal has informed all teachers that there is an increasing need for racial inclusivity and socio-economic awareness at the school. A further challenge is that the school has been chronically under-funded, and the social studies class textbooks that are currently in use were published in 1992.

Exhibit 2 – Teacher’s Observations

I have noted that students have a tendency to form peer groups with those from their own racial or socio-economic backgrounds. There seems to be growing tensions between these cliques in the class.

A couple of recent lessons have not been as successful as I would have liked. I used materials from the class textbooks, and certain students did not seem to engage with the teaching materials.

I then had a comprehension exercise on the US government, as well as trying a new reading exercise about a black rap artist. Materials for these lessons were adapted from current newspaper articles. These two lessons went much better than those from the textbook.

Exhibit 3 – Lesson Plan

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Objective: To teach students how to compare and contrast different texts.

Tasks & Materials: Students will read two texts from the class textbook.

Activities: Students will work together in ethnically-mixed groups of four. I will distribute a worksheet identifying 6 points that are to be compared in each of the passages. Students will identify comparisons in the texts by making reference to the appropriate parts of the passages on their worksheets, and they will then work together to determine the whether the passages agree or disagree with each other on each of these six points.

Question 1

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Which of the following probably best explains why lessons with the exercises about the US government and the rap artist were more successful than previous ones?

A) the materials made certain members of the class feel less out of place or alienated

B) the teacher pitched the materials at a level that was not too advanced

C) the students were generally more interested in the subjects of government and music

D) the students prefer journalistic texts to discursive ones

The correct answer is A. The class textbook is now quite outdated and probably contains racial and socio-economic biases. Current materials from a diverse profile of contributors may rectify this issue.

Question 2

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With the objective of improving student inclusivity, how could Mr. Ribaldi have best improved the lesson in the lesson plan that incorporated materials from the class textbook?

A) incorporated a third text from the Smithsonian Magazine

B) having the students work on their own and then engage in a whole-class discussion

C) using three current texts from magazines that feature contributors from a wide array of ethnic backgrounds

D) having the students work in larger groups to increase the mix of ethnicities

The correct answer is C. Current texts that focus on an issue of interest to students from each ethnicity would be ideal.

Question 3

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What action should Mr. Ribaldi take to rectify the increasing tensions and divisions in the class?

A) remind students that they will be referred to the principal’s office if they misbehave

B) read the student honor code to the class

C) inform students that they may possibly be excluded from lessons if they cause conflict

D) place the students in small groups to discuss the causes of the tensions in the class

The correct answer is D. The teacher could try ethnically-mixed small groups for the discussion, or single-ethnicity groups that then feed back their views to the class as a whole. Students would most likely view the options mentioned in each of the other answers as unnecessarily punitive and authoritarian.

Question 4

What action could the school take as a whole to address the needs of lower-income students?

A) hand out free lunch tickets to low income students at the start of class

B) abolish the school uniform program and have all students wear street clothes of their choice.

C) tell the students that they do not need to participate in certain activities if they cannot afford to do so

D) seek additional help with funding from the federal and state governments

The correct answer is B. School uniforms cost parents hundreds of dollars every year, and doing away with them would help all of the families save money, without singling out “the poor kids.” We have not included answer D as a possible correct answer here because it is very likely that the school is already doing everything it can as far as funding is concerned.

Sample essay question

You will also have to write a brief open-response answer on the three pieces of evidence provided in the EAS exam. An example question follows.

Instructions: Write a brief essay of 150 to 200 words which addresses the issue of diversity in this class. Then discuss which strategies Mr. Ribaldi could use to improve the situation, and evaluate their potential effectiveness.

For more practice test materials, please see the links to the NYSTCE practice test PDF printouts at the bottom of the page.

What are the other NYSTCE Exams?

NYSTCE stands for the New York State Teachers’ Certification Exam.

Teachers will need to pass certain basic skills and subject area exams in order to receive an initial New York State teaching certificate.

You will need to take at least one of the following:

ATSW – Elementary or the secondary version of the Assessment of Teaching Skills (Written)
CST – Content Specialty Test in your the teacher’s area of certification
ALST – Academic Literacy Skills Test
LSAT – Liberal Arts and Sciences Test
BAE – To teach bilingual education, educators need to pass the Bilingual Education Assessment (BEA) in their language of instruction.
ATAS – Pre-Professional New York State teaching assistant certificates are granted when a you pass the Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills exam.

The exams have a multiple choice part and a written response part.

The exams are now available as computer-based tests (CBT’s).

New York State Teacher Certification

Teachers will need the New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) to be able to work in the state of New York. You also have to take the NYSTCE in your subject area.

The NYSTCE program assesses the skills of teachers, teaching assistants, and school administrators.